Summerland

Meanwhile, Ethan’s dad works to create the material that Coyote wants, and Coyote has retrieved Cutbelly to help. The more Ethan’s dad works, the more concerned Cutbelly becomes. The man hasn’t slept and has barely eaten, and the back side of his body is increasingly flat. Cutbelly thus refuses to help anymore because he knows that Ethan’s dad isn’t doing this for Ethan but “because [he] like[s] what [he’s] doing” (306). Ethan’s dad says that isn’t true, but when Coyote arrives to say that he doesn’t have to work anymore, Ethan’s dad says he wants to finish the job.

After Ethan’s group steps onto the tree, the strange, flickering lights hypnotize them, and the next thing he knows, Ethan reunites with Jennifer T.’s group and the faeries who captured them on a baseball field. Resisting his fear that he won’t be enough to help Cinquefoil, Ethan waves the bat over the fairy, who starts to recover. The other faeries apologize for imprisoning the group and offer any favor in return for healing Cinquefoil. Ethan asks for the station wagon back. The faeries bring it, but they used the gas tank material to make clothing, so the car no longer flies. Ethan also asks for provisions, the map Thor found, the company of Spider-Rose, and the removal of Grim’s enslavement binding.

The faeries agree to all but the binding. A binding can’t be broken, only moved, so Ethan says he’ll take it. Still, the price is too high for the faeries, and the groups play a game of baseball to settle the matter. The game is long, and neither side plays particularly well. Ethan’s team finally wins because the faeries make errors. Grim’s binding transfers to Ethan, and the faeries announce that “this ball field, in honor and commemoration of its generous donors, would be known as Three Reubens Field” (322). With Grim in the driver’s seat, the group starts off. On the roof of the car, Taffy is the only one who hears the sound of a woman weeping.

As the group travels, changes in the landscape and color of the moon indicate that the end of the world is nearing. The group, now calling themselves the Shadowtails, plays more baseball games, and though they don’t win, the games help Jennifer T. improve her pitching and Ethan hone his catching skills. Nine days after setting out, they run out of gas with miles to go and an enormous river to cross. Forced to pause, the group takes some time to stretch their legs and have a proper meal. Ethan tries to fix the knot in the handle of his bat. No matter how he tries, it persists, and Grim explains, “[T]hat Knot ain’t going away till you’re ready” (342).

The Big Liars—giants who embody lies and legends—invite the group to dine with them and fuel up the car. However, they intend to ensure that the group doesn’t get across the river, which is the final barrier to the well. Jennifer T. calls them on their vow, insulting the giants for not being all that tall. The giants confess that they’re sad. They miss the old days of whaling ships and keel boats, and they want Coyote to succeed because they feel that existence no longer has any meaning. Ethan and Cinquefoil argue that it does, citing their search for finding Ethan’s dad and the game of baseball as meaningful. The Big Liars agree about baseball and add that if the Shadowtails beat them at a game, they’ll let the group cross the river. The Big Liars have nine players to the Shadowtails’ eight, and the group uses Thor’s map to find a ninth, realizing that they’re near a crossover where they can pick up baseball legend Rodrigo Buendía.

Rodrigo Buendía lives in a well-guarded gated community. When Ethan, Thor, and Jennifer T. appear on his street, security follows them to Buendía’s home, where they use Thor’s ability to run through the closed garage door and into the house. Buendía discovers them and calls for security to remove them. Security takes them to the community’s police station. Ethan wants to give up, but Jennifer T. says they won’t leave without Buendía, and “as was always the case when Jennifer T. had made up her mind, [that] put an end to the discussion” (371).

Thor takes them back to Buendía’s house, where Ethan tells the man that Chiron Brown sent them. Buendía recognizes the name and understands that the children want him to come to the Summerlands. At the height of his baseball career, Buendía was one of the best players in the big leagues, but after many injuries and surgeries, he has been pushed into being a designated hitter. At first, Buendía refuses to help the kids because he’s done being a hero, but Jennifer T. convinces him by telling him he’ll get to play a real game of baseball.